Petroleum marketers on Tuesday staged a protest at the Port Harcourt Refinery depot, pushing back against what they described as an unjustified and persistent hike in the price of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), commonly known as diesel.
Operating under the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), the marketers halted all loading operations and demanded that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) reverse the latest price increase.
Depot officials recently raised the AGO price to ₦1,130 per litre—a sharp increase from the previously agreed ₦980 per litre on existing loading tickets. The decision triggered immediate backlash.
“We paid for those tickets, and they remain trapped in the NNPCL/Oando system. They must honour the ₦980/litre rate. We cannot keep absorbing the cost of arbitrary changes,” one of the protesting marketers told reporters at the scene.
The IPMAN Port Harcourt Unit Chairman and NNPCL’s lead sales supervisor engaged with the protesters, urging calm and confirming that they had escalated the issue to NNPCL headquarters in Abuja for immediate intervention.
Despite the assurances, the marketers vowed to maintain their stance until NNPCL releases their allocated AGO volumes at the agreed rate. “We made our position clear—no product will move until we get justice. This is not only about business; it’s about fairness,” another protester said.
The protest has disrupted depot operations and raised fresh concerns about potential fuel supply delays if the impasse continues.
The development adds to growing national discontent over escalating petroleum product prices, driven by currency depreciation and volatility in global energy markets.
